Amusement apparatus



March 20, 1962 e. P. BRooKs ETAL 3,025,632

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS Filed Sept. 14. 1959 AGE/V7.

United States Patent Office 3,025,632 Patented Mar. 20, 1962 3,025,632 AMUSEMENT APPARATUS Grenville P. Brooks, 3341 Ball Road, Anaheim, Calif.,

and Oakley H. Ketchnm, 13824 Premiere Ave, Bellfiower, Calif.

Filed Sept. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 839,672 illaims. (Cl. 46-65) This invention pertains to amusement apparatus, and more specifically to means including a trace-creating spinning top and trace-registering base upon which the top is operable. By spinning top, is meant a top susceptible of being spun or set spinning.

Spinning tops are of numerous types and include tops having trace-creating or writing points, each constructed to produce a trace of the path of the point of the top as the top spins and/ or nutates on a surface after having been set spinning. While it has been observed that such tops may create traces of approximately oval or cycloidal shape, the general character of the trace is a curved line merging into a series of small loops, the curved line portion of the trace being produced during the pre-nutation period of spinning and the loops being traced out during the terminal stages of top rotation when nutation occurs.

The present invention provides a distinct improvement in the character and variety of traces producible by apparatus of the character mentioned, and thus greatly enhances and extends the amusement afforded the operator of the apparatus, and witnesses. The improvement in the characteristics of traces produced, and the enhancement of the amusement furnished by the invention, stem in part from special shape characteristics of the surface upon which the top is set spinning, in part from the abrasive characteristics of the surface, and in part from the nature of the tip of the spinning top. It has been discovered that if a top is set spinning upon a shallow concave surface with which the tip of the top has sufficient frictional contact, the top will progress successively along a relatively long uniform course, then abruptly change course, and repeat such action many times, with variations according to the inclination of the axis of the top relative to a perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact, and varying with the speed of rotation of the top, with the physical characteristics of the tip and the surface, and the concavity and configuration of the surface. The alternationsin the motion from upward to downward on the concave surface are relatively abrupt and are in general accompanied by marked deviations from a return course. This unexpected and unobvious action furnishes the basis for the creation of many eye-pleasing traces which are produced upon a suitably textured concave surface by a spinning top having a suitably constructed tip, and provides a basis for many games of skill.

Thus, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved amusement apparatus. Another object of the invention is to provide an amusement apparatus comprising essentially a concavely-surfaced base and a trace-producing spinning top operable to produce attractive traces upon the base incident to being set spinning thereon. Another object of the invention is to provide amusement apparatus comprising a trace-producing spinning top and a cooperating trace-receiving base having novel characteristics. Another object of the invention is to provide an amusement device comprising a concave trace-receiving surface, and a trace-producing spinning top adapted for cooperation therewith to produce traces thereon.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter be made evident or become evident from consideration of the appended claims and the followingdescription of a preferred physical embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an oblique view of a base or plate member having a concave upper surface, with a trace-producing spinning top thereon in typical spinning attitude;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus depicted in FIG. 1, on a reduced scale, showing typical trace-patterns of the type produced by the rotating top;

FIG. 3 is a detail view of a simple trace-producing spinning top of the type shown generally in FIG. 1;

F 16$. 4 and 5 are plan and sectional views, respectively, of a modified form of base member having an annularshaped concave upper surface; and

FIG. 6 is a view of a modified form of trace-producing spinning top, with the tip thereof displaced and a part broken away to show details of form.

Referring first to FIG. 1, an exemplary base-member is denoted by ordinal 10. The base member preferably but not necessarily is circular in plan form, and has a mildly abrasive concave upper trace-receiving surface 10a and a bottom portion 10b which is adapted to rest upon a table or floor or other supporting surface and thereby maintain the base member in stable attitude. The trace-receiving surface, 10a, is of such texture as to augment or enhance production of a trace thereon by a rotating top. For example, the surface is preferably slightly rough and similar in texture to that of a conventional school-room blackboard. Thus the surface is adapted to exert What may be termed a frictional effect or force upon the tip of a top rotating thereon, and thereby effectively remove trace-forming material from the tip of the top. This action may be likened to that of trace-formation on a blackboard by motion of a moving piece of chalk in contact therewith. Further, the surface Illa may be black or colored. In other respects the base member may be of any suitable type and size and configuration, however, a circular base about twelve inches in diameter has been found to be excellent.

The spinning top, 20, is comprised essentially of a body, rotator means in the form of a spindle, and a tip, which tip may in a simple top be the lower end of the spindle. In a preferred simple form of top, and as illustrated in FIG. 3, the body 20a is essentially an elastic disc of rubber or the like, having an axial aperture 20h, through which aperture a spindle Ztlb of blackboard chalk or the like extends. The top has a trace-producing tip 200, which in this example is an integral part of the spindle. The aperture 20h in body 20a is formed to be of slightly smaller diameter than that of the spindle, whereby the body grips the spindle and secures the two parts together but provides for easy replacement of a worn chalk. The top may be set spinning by application of a sudden turning effort to the spindle, as by a thumb and finger of the operator. The trace-producing tip should be relatively short and thus terminate not far below the lowermost surface of the top body; and should be of material or structure offering good frictional engagement with the surface 100. Tips of white or colored blackboard chalk have been found to give excellent results when the top was set spinning on a surface 10a produced by painting a concave base with blackboard slating paint such as that marketed under the name Readymix Slating, #5198 by W. P. Fuller and Company, Los Angeles, California.

In PEG. 2 there is illustrated, in addition to the solid line trace, and in dotted line, another typical form or pattern of trace produced by the top. Both of the illustrated traces were copied from actual traces produced by the apparatus disclosed, and are of types easily substantially repeated by an operator after a short period of practice. It is found that the general type or configuration of trace which Will be produced is governed to a surprising degree by the location on surface 10a at which the top is set spinnin that iS, whether at a point near the center of the base, or at a point near the periphery, or midway between the two. Also the type of trace produced is governed to some extent by the initial speed of rotation and direction of slant of the top spindle. A short period of experimentation suffices for an operator to learn how torepetitively, or at will, spin the top to produce a desired type of trace, and games or competitive activities among players may be based on abilities to roduce traces similar to those of others, etc. However, considerable amu'seinent is readily derived by operating the apparatus Without competition.

A modified form of base member, denoted by ordinal lit!) and shown in plan in FIG. 4 and in section in FIG. 5, has at least one generally annular upper surface area of very slightly convex (upwardly) curvature, disposed between the central area of the base member and the periphery thereof. This reversely-shaped slightly convex area, 100c, shown much exaggerated in both figures in the interest of clarity, forms an almost imperceptible interruption of the regular concave curvature of the operating surface, 100a, and causes marked and unexpected deviations in the courses taken and traced by the top. This results in enhancement of some types of designs or figures traced by the top. However, if the rise or deviation constituted in the annular convex area or portion little is made very perceptibly high or abrupt, the top will be restrained thereby and prevented from executing diametrical traverses across the base and will instead trace figures in the outer annular concave portion 100d. It is found that in cases where the spinning top is thus retained in an outer annular area of the base, rather attractive multiangular figures such as that made by trace Tb in FIG. 4, or multiple sharply-reversing loop figures, are traced, gen crally with sharp angular deviations terminating each of generally uniform traces. For execution of diametrical traverses across a base of twelve inches diameter, a convex rise of about 0.03 inch above what would otherwise be the uninterrupted concave surface 100a, in an annular area 1000 about one inch wide, has been found to give good results. A somewhat higher or more abrupt convex area 1000 will permit easy production of traces such as that at Tb.

Base members and 100 may be of any suitable material, but preferably are of a shock-resistant material, such as that used in better grades of rigid synthetic resin kitchenware.

There is shown in FIG. 6 a modified form of traceproducing top, 120, the tip 120c thereof being shown displaced and a portion of the body 120a broken away to show details of a tip-retaining socket or recess 120r. In this form of top the expendable tip 1200 of chalk or the like is readily replaceable by removal of a worn tip and insertion of a new tip with a slight twist and push on the tip as it enters recess 120r. The recess is dimensioned to provide a close press fit for tips 1200. Body 120a may be of elastic material, or of synthetic resin or the like, or of metal. Spindle 1201) may be formed integrally with body 120a, or separately formed and secured to the body in any of several obvious and well-known modes.

Operation of both forms of tops is substantially the same; and with either type the trace-producing tip may be given an offset point, or a slightly wedge-shaped point, to vary the nature of the traces produced.

U on being properly set spinning upon the concave friction-exerting surface of the base member or plate, the top nearly always performs to produce in succession a plurality of connected traces each of which includes a relatively long relatively straight or slightly curved trace portion across a portion of the base and terminating in a relatively short abruptly curved or reversed trace portion near the periphery of the base. The top, in performing the abrupt changes of course near the periphery of the base, in some cases produces short loop trace portions,

such as are indicated on the solid-line trace in FIG. 2; and in other cases makes sharp obtuse-angled turns or changes of directions, whereby a variety of types of traces are produced. In general, the same type of change of course is repeated throughout any one spinning of the top, as indicated in FIG. 2. A short term of practice suffices to enable the operator to predict quite accurately the type of trace the top will produce, the type depending upon the way the top is released, direction of spin, point of release, etc. In a multiplicity of successive spinnings of the top on the base it is only rarely that the top will leave the concave surface, and then only due to faulty action of the operator in setting the top into operation. Yet many spinnings may cause the top to traverse across the face of the base more than a dozen times. The curvature or concavity of the surface is apparently responsible for the peculiar and unexpected action of the top in performing a relatively straight traverse across a relatively large portion of the surface and then, when near the periphery, abruptly changing course, rather than continuing on over the rim of the base member. In case it is desired, for esthetic or other reasons, that the top be substantially precluded from moving off the rim of the base member due to faulty action of the operator in setting the top spinning, a head or other guard means (not shown) may be provided, either integral with or attachable to, the base member. However, this refinement is neither necessary nor part of the invention.

Having disclosed a preferred form of apparatus according to the invention, it is apparent that modifications of structure and configurations will occur to others in the light of the disclosure, and it is therefore not desired to be limited to the exact structures and configurations shown and described, but what we claim is:

1. Amusement apparatus comprising, in combination: a base member having a generally concave upper tracereceiving face constructed and arranged with a frictional abrasive surface adapted for frictional engagement with a trace-producing tip; and a spinning top adapted for rotative spinning on said abrasive surface, said top including a trace-producing tip of material adapted to be frictionally removed by said surface incident to rotation thereon and to thereby induce multiple traversing movements of the top across said surface whereby to produce patterned traces thereon.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, said top consisting essentially of an elastic apertured disc and a length of trace-producing material extending through the apertured disc and forming the spindle and tip of the top.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, said trace-receiving surface being formed by slating paint.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, said trace-producing tip being blackboard chalk.

5 Apparatus according to claim 1, said trace-receiving surface being formed of slating paint, and said trace-producing tip being blackboard chalk.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, said base member including an annular surface forming portion providing a slightly convex annular area disrupting the generally concave upper trace-receiving surface.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, said top comprising a body and a replaceable trace-producing tip frictionally secured in said body and readily removable therefrom.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, said body having a recess, and said tip being frictionally held in said recess.

9 Amusement apparatus comprising, in combination: a base member having a generally shallow concave mildlyabrasive upper surface of relatively large minimum dimension and having a texture comparable to that of a schoolroom blackboard; and a spinning top adapted for rotative spinning on said surface, said top having a maximum dimension small relative to the said large minimum dimension and having a tip of frictional trace-producing chalky material adapted to be relatively rapidly frlctlonally removed and retained by said surface incident to rotatlve traversal of the tip on the surface and effective when properly set spinning on said surface to produce on the surface multiple successive interconnected traces each of which includes a relatively long trace having a small degree of curvature and a relatively short trace having a large degree of curvature.

References flied in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pepin Nov. 25, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Nov. 22, 1927 Germany Nov. 5, 1929 Switzerland Aug. 2, 1937 

